Emmy Noms Reaction- Drama

The 2011 Emmy nominations were announced Thursday morning. Below are some of my reactions on who earned nods, who didn't, and how my predictions from last week worked out. First up are the drama awards...

Drama Series

Spot On
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Mad Men

Prediction
The Killing

Result
Friday Night Lights

Four out of the five here were obvious; Boardwalk, Dexter, Good Wife, and Mad Men. One of my two guesses worked out, as Game of Thrones picked up a well deserved spot, and The Killing did not (also deservedly). I failed to realize the “power of the last chance” in not expecting Friday Night Lights to get in, but I’m glad it did. While I’m not a fan of the acting noms that we will get to later, the show has been fantastic, and deserved a nom as it heads off to greener pastures. Even though this final season wasn’t nearly as good as say seasons one or three (minus the finale of course), I’m glad it made the cut.

Drama Actor

Spot On
Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk
Michael C. Hall – Dexter
Jon Hamm – Mad Men
Hugh Laurie – House

Prediction
Jeremy Irons – The Borgias
William H. Macy – Shameless

Result
Kyle Chandler – Friday Night Lights
Timothy Olyphant – Justified

In a second straight category, four of the nominees were obvious. This time, they were the only four I picked correctly: Buscemi, Hall, Hamm, and Laurie. Here my mistake was in thinking the academy was going to go for name only. In no way did I enjoy either Irons or Macy in their respective Showtime roles, nor did I think either of them did any kind of quality acting, but I am still surprised that neither one of them slid into a spot. I should have known better to go against Chandler, who made it into the field last year, but again I forgot about the final season stigma. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy him as Coach Taylor, but he is so God awful at playing a football coach, that I thought that might deter some people. Then again, most voters have no idea what a coach acts like either, so my bad. Olyphant is the biggest surprise here, but I’m glad my reverse jinx worked to perfection in this case.

Drama Actress

Spot On
Kathy Bates – Harry’s Law
Connie Britton – Friday Night Lights
Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss – Mad Men

Prediction
Katey Sagal – Sons of Anarchy
Kyra Sedwick – The Closer

Result
Mireille Enos – The Killing
Mariska Hargitay – Law & Order: SVU

In what most people thought was another obvious four nominee category, we were all surprised by the biggest shocker of the entire list with the absence of last year’s winner, Sedgwick. How do you go from winning the category in 2010 to being left off the ballot in 2011? When you’re losing a spot to the likes of the boring performance of Enos, the staleness of Hargitay, and the flat out sillyness of Bates, it is especially devastating. I’m not saying that I’ve seen a single episode of The Closer, but I’m assuming she has to be better than the three I just named. Britton, Margulies, and Moss were the other three obvious choices, although, unlike most critics, I can’t stand a single second that Britton spends on screen. It may just be her character, but still. And finally, there is once again no Katey Sagal, which has to be more of an Emmy discomfort with the material on Sons, than the actual performance of Sagal, who is always fantastic.

Drama Supporting Actor

Spot On
Andre Braugher – Men of Age
Josh Charles – The Good Wife
Alan Cumming – The Good Wife
John Slattery – Mad Men

Prediction
Michael Pitt – Boardwalk
Michael Shannon – Boardwalk

Result
Peter Dinklage – Game of Thrones
Walton Goggins – Justified

So much for Boardwalk taking the Emmys by the throat. While it nabbed numerous technical noms, and a few for acting to go along with its best drama nod, the HBO hit did not get a single supporting nomination. Everyone and their brother was predicting at least one here. Most were saying two, with Pitt and Shannon, and some were even throwing a three spot out there. Am I glad that both Pitt and Shannon fell out? Absolutely! It left room for two of my favorites, in Dinklage and Goggins. The latter is another huge surprise from Justified, which goes to show how well my reverse jinxes worked. With two more acting noms for the show, it is surprising that it did not make the cut for Best Drama series. While Slattery and Cumming seemed to be the only absolutes heading in, Braugher returning, and Charles stepping in didn’t surprise anyone.

Drama Supporting Actress

Spot On
Christine Baranski – The Good Wife
Michelle Forbes – The Killing
Christina Hendricks – Mad Men
Kelly MacDonald – Boardwalk
Margo Martindale – Justified
Archie Penjabi – The Good Wife

Boom! Finally nailed a category. Tweet from Lar: “The crying mom from the killing was nominated this year? wow #actingmustbeeasy” I couldn’t agree more. As much as I disliked the writing on The Killing, the acting on this show was just as much overrated. Enos, Forbes, the rest of the cast, they all played such empty characters that I don’t understand how they earned a pair of nominations. While Martindale getting her deserved nom wasn’t extremely shocking, I was still pleasantly surprised this morning.

Drama Guest Actor

Result
Beau Bridges – Brothers and Sisters
Jeremy Davies – Justified
Bruce Dern – Big Love
Paul McCrane – Harry’s Law
Michael J. Fox – The Good Wife
Robert Morse – Mad Men

The only performances that I witnessed were Davies and Morse, the former of which did a fantastic job on Justified. That makes four acting noms for Justified, but not a nod for best drama. Not shocking, but still hard to figure out. This second season was monumental. Start taking notice people.

Drama Guest Actress

Result
Cara Buono – Mad Men
Joan Cusack – Shameless
Loretta Devine – Grey’s Anatomy
Randee Heller – Mad Men
Mary McDonnell – The Closer
Julia Stiles – Dexter
Alfre Woodard – True Blood

I’m so glad they added an extra nom for drama guest actress so that Alfre Woodard could get in for her fantastic performance on True Blood. #sarcasm.